SKU: WD.080689062278

UPC: 080689062278.

With the weekly demands of providing music for corporate worship, choirs need an easy solution for quality worship music. Music ministries need arrangements that provide options for performance, conserve rehearsal time, and are consistent with the same style and integrity of the selections already at use in their program. Simply...the Best is that solution: an easy-to-sing booklet with three proven anthems re-arranged to maximize rehearsal efficiency. The songs are familiar and the parts are easy enough to learn in as little as one rehearsal. Simply...the Best arrangements are even crafted to work when there are no men available to sing, creating flexibility and the option for a women's-only choir.

An exclusive benefit of the Simply...the Best series is the Virtual Accompanist trax (included on the CD accompaniment trax.) The Virtual Accompanist trax includes the women's parts being sung and played on the left channel and men's voice parts being sung and played on the right. By panning the trax to either side, you can let each section hear its parts separately.

Whether you sing all three songs together or on separate occasions, with live accompaniment or with the split track accompaniment CD, this series is a simple solution to encourage choirs to lift their voices in praise. No choir is too small or too large to benefit from the practical arrangements and the new trax features of Simply...the Best.

SKU: PR.114418900

ISBN 9781491129517. UPC: 680160668632.

A welcome addition to the bass flute repertoire, Dorff’s 14-minute sonata is designed as two pairs of slow-fast movements. While composed as a complete 4-movement sonata, either half may be performed alone as a 7-minute recital work. The movement titles are: I. Sprawling, burbling; II. Sparkling, glistening; III. Under Winter; and IV. Spring Spirits.
When Peter Sheridan commissioned me to write a piece for bass flute and piano, his only requests were a sonata-like multi-movement work, and some kind of reference to New York, where we both grew up. Just the thought of a bass flute, with its broad and mighty airstream, already reminded me of the mighty Hudson River: from the dense woods of upstate New York, through the beautiful landscapes of New Paltz and Poughkeepsie, down through the celebrated Manhattan waterway.As I daydreamed how to build a sonata inspired by the Hudson, I thought of its deep primal nature carved by the Ice Age, and the life within the river and on its shores long before humans arrived. I thought of how the river’s magnetism drew Native Americans who honored and built their lives around it. I thought of beautiful trees and wildlife, the annual cycles of ecosystems, and the natural symbiosis between the river itself, the life within, and the life on land spawned by the river’s resources.I wondered what if Thoreau had sat by the Hudson rather than by Walden Pond; I wondered what if Hesse had set Siddhartha in the Hudson Valley with this river as his metaphor for the flow of life and time.I wondered whether the sonata should flow from north to south, or have chronological references. I wondered if I should allude to the many poets and painters who have drawn inspiration from the mighty Hudson. Every thought led to the river’s essence, its own spirit and life — flowing through raw nature, from skinny trickles to mightiness spawning cities; supporting subtle life, and becoming a central commons for human societies.The subtitle Spirit of the Hudson brings it all together.* * *The sonata is built in 4 movements, with formal inspiration from the Baroque: A slow Mvt. 1 “Sprawling, burbling” leads directly to the rapid Mvt. 2 “Sparkling, glistening,” followed by another slow-fast pair: Mvt. 3 “Under Winter” which leads directly into Mvt. 4 “Spring Spirits.” In addition to performances of the complete sonata, either pair of movements may be performed on its own for a shorter concert segment.SONATA (SPIRIT OF THE HUDSON) was premiered at the International Low Flutes Festival in April 2018 by its commissioner, bass flutist Peter Sheridan, with Hyeeun Hahm as pianist.